Electrical connectors are used in a variety of applications for making electrical interconnections. A connector typically includes at least two components: a housing or other body member and a plurality of terminals or electrical contact elements positioned in the housing. A connector may be attached to the end of a multi-conductor cable, and a mating connector may be mechanically and electrically interconnected to a printed circuit board, or both connectors may be connected to cables or a pair of printed circuit boards. Regardless of the application, electrical connectors often are difficult to mate or interconnect when they mount a large number of terminals.
With the increasing use of electrical and electronic components in a wide variety of consumer products, the provision of reliable electrical connections to and between such components has become increasingly difficult, for not only are larger numbers of components being used, but the components are becoming more complex, requiring larger numbers of wires and connectors, and are becoming smaller to accommodate miniaturization of the electronics, which is reducing available board space in many consumer products. All of these factors combine to magnify the problem of installing, replacing, or repairing the electronic components.
To facilitate the installation, replacement, and repair of the electrical components, it is well known to use an ejector mechanism to releasably lock mating connectors to each other as well as separate them from each other. As a result of the miniaturization of electrical connectors, a common problem is the damage or breakage of the ejector mechanism or the connector housing of the electrical connectors during normal operation of the ejector mechanism or during insertion or extraction of the mating connector. A common solution is to structurally reinforce areas of the ejector mechanism or connector housing susceptible to operational damage. However, the structural reinforcement of areas of the ejector mechanism or connector housing typically results in an increase in size and/or cost of the electrical connector.